🔗 Share this article

Rachel Sennott enters the video call and at once starts an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing truly remorseful. Despite being only a bit late, she needs to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s exactly what you want to hear. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers who have seen the unapologetically openly gay and brash project Bottoms—which she collaborated on with the director and appeared in together with her friend The Bear’s standout—would already know that Sennott possesses a lot to share, ranging from on identity, relationships, or the appeal of creating a youth fight club. Furthermore, by the end the latest eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries even more insights regarding the challenges of modern youth (At 30, Sennott serves as a relatable figure for this generation, on the cusp skilled for connecting different age groups).

Inspirations and Storytelling Approach

The comparisons to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, naming the show in addition to the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for her series, which follows the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also aspiring talent manager Sennott’s character. However, the most significant spot on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, the program about an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it amid lockdown, became “obsessed”, and chose to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The inspiration for the series came—in part—from her own, initially difficult, transition to LA and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed occurrence for enthusiasts. This represented a phase that saw her grasp major insights, professionally and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Starting Out

Growing up in the East Coast, the star began creating and acting stand-up while studying theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

She seized control, appearing at live shows with her friend and posting hysterical (and very) weird comedy videos online. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females obsessively drawn to motherhood; a different one imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being caught in a horror film. Interestingly, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. The big theme of her path, she says, has been peers offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, stating humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”

Career Breakthrough

Those who were skeptical regarding Sennott previously will likely be regretting it currently. In what she labels a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she appears to manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a clip called on LA life on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a show about city dwellers managing benefits of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being accused of being a intoxicated stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable pariah). It would be easy to make a program about online fame that was horribly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA does neither, making for a depiction of advantaged millennial life that’s honest about the chaos and the shine.

Nuanced Portrayal

“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” she says. “I think that young people have been through a lot – I’m mostly thinking of people younger than me, like my little sister, who went to college during Covid, so she had to come home, or my other sister who was doing school online.”|“The younger generation has faced significant